We make screenshotbase, so we are not neutral. Every fact about Selenium comes from Selenium's own public pages, linked next to it with the date we read it. Details change, so check selenium.dev before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.
Selenium vs screenshotbase at a glance
| Criterion | screenshotbase | Selenium |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A hosted screenshot API: one HTTPS request returns the image, PDF or markdown of a page rendered in a real browser1 | Browser automation through WebDriver, with language bindings maintained by the Selenium project2 |
| License | Hosted service; free plan without a time limit3 | Apache-2.04 |
| Languages | Any language that sends HTTPS requests; SDKs for PHP, Go, Ruby and R1 | Java, Python, C#, Ruby, JavaScript (core bindings)2 |
| Browsers | – | Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari5 |
| Screenshots and PDF | Viewport and full-page screenshots, PDF and markdown from one endpoint (/v1/take)6 | Take screenshot and print page (PDF) through WebDriver7 |
– means we list no fact from that provider's own pages for this row.
- screenshotbase.com, checked October 9, 2026
- selenium.dev/downloads, checked October 9, 2026
- screenshotbase.com/pricing, checked October 9, 2026
- github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium, checked October 9, 2026
- selenium.dev/documentation/webdriver/browsers, checked October 9, 2026
- screenshotbase.com/docs/take, checked October 9, 2026
- selenium.dev/documentation/webdriver/interactions/windows, checked October 9, 2026
Where Selenium is strong
- Free and open source (Apache-2.0), with core bindings for Java, Python, C#, Ruby and JavaScript. (source, Oct 9, 2026)
- Drives Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari through the WebDriver standard, so existing test suites can take screenshots too. (source, Oct 9, 2026)
Where screenshotbase is different
- No browser to install, update or scale: one HTTPS request returns the image, PDF or markdown. (source, Oct 9, 2026)
- Ads, cookie banners and chat widgets hidden with a parameter (
block_ads,block_cookie_banners,block_chats) on every plan. (source, Oct 9, 2026) - Pages loaded from 117 countries with
ip_country_codeon every paid plan, without running your own proxies. (source, Oct 9, 2026) - Billed per screenshot, 300 free every month; requests rejected with a validation error (HTTP 422) do not count. (source, Oct 9, 2026)
The same screenshot with Selenium and with screenshotbase
A screenshot of the visible 1280 × 800 window with Selenium, which needs a browser on the machine that runs it:
from selenium import webdriver
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_argument("--headless=new")
options.add_argument("--window-size=1280,800")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get("https://example.com")
driver.save_screenshot("screenshot.png")
driver.quit()
The same request to screenshotbase, from any language that speaks HTTPS:
curl -G "https://api.screenshotbase.com/v1/take" \
--data-urlencode "url=https://example.com" \
-d viewport_width=1280 -d viewport_height=800 \
-H "apikey: YOUR-API-KEY" \
-o screenshot.pngTry screenshotbase
The free plan has 300 screenshots a month and needs no credit card. The /v1/take reference lists every parameter, and the website screenshot tool shows the result without code. Plans and prices are on the pricing page.